Participants in many sports are increasingly using protective headgear of various kinds. Football players have long worn helmets to protect themselves from blows to the head and face. Sometime later hockey players also began to protect themselves with helmets. More recently recreational bicyclists have perceived the need to use protective headgear and have started to wear helmets in increasing numbers.
Traditionally, soccer players have not worn any protective headgear. This is probably the case for two main reasons. First, soccer players or organizers of the game may not have sensed a need to use headgear because injuries to the head may not have seemed as commonplace as in sports such as football, hockey, and bicycling. Second, soccer is one of the few sports where the head itself is intentionally and legitimately used to strike the ball. This requires considerable muscle coordination and use of the senses of sight and touch. An improperly constructed piece of headgear could hamper a player's ability to head the ball properly.
Recent medical research has demonstrated that head injuries may be more prevalent in soccer than previously thought. Several studies have suggested that soccer players may suffer minor trauma from repeatedly heading the ball. This injury has been analogized to "pugilistic dementia," the harm that boxers suffer from repeated strikes to the head in boxing. Alf Thorvald Tysvaer, "Head and Neck Injuries in Soccer--Impact of Minor Trauma,"Sports Medicine, 14(3): 200-213 (1992). This danger of trauma in soccer may be greater for children. Their skills at heading are less well honed. Their bodies may not be developed enough to withstand or counteract the blow caused by a ball. Id. at 210. Therefore, at least from a safety standpoint, use of headgear by soccer players seems advisable.
The unique demands of the sport of soccer require unique headgear. Although multipurpose protective headgear for sports are being developed, most forms of headgear for use in team sports are intended for one sport and should not be used in other activities. Thomas B. Cole, "Can Sports Minded Kids Have Too Many Helmets?", Journal of the American Medical Association, 275(18): 1391 (May 8, 1996). A brief review of patents for headgear constructed for other sports shows how such headgear would not meet the specialized needs of soccer players. For example, football and hockey helmets are ill-suited for soccer. Their bulk would likely discourage soccer players unaccustomed to helmets from wearing them. In addition this bulk and the hard, sometimes uneven surfaces of such helmets would make it very difficult to control the direction and distance of a headed ball. Finally, other unprotected soccer players might suffer injuries caused by the hard-surfaced headgear of the wearer. See. e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,690 (hockey helmet).
Other helmets would also not work effectively as soccer headgear. Bicycle helmets are light but would make control of the ball difficult; they are built to withstand one substantial blow; and their ventilation systems would likely not be effective in soccer. See. e.g.. U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,631. Wrestling headgear protects the ears and only incidentally, if at all, protects the surfaces of the head. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,420.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,852 illustrates protective headgear specifically designed for use in soccer. This headgear, however, has several shortcomings. The headband shape of the headgear protects only the forehead, neglecting other parts of the head which may be used, properly and improperly, to strike balls. The headband shape moreover creates a ridge at the edge of the headband which could misdirect a headed ball. In addition, the materials and retention system of this headgear likely would cause the headgear to slip up or down on the wearer's head or, if tightened, could strain the wearer's head.